


Special Agents, Double Feature

by hellsteeth



Category: The X-Files
Genre: Bisexual Dana Scully, F/M, Flirting, Rocky Horror Picture Show References, mulder is nervous and really wants the date to go well
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-19
Updated: 2020-10-19
Packaged: 2021-03-09 06:07:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,777
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27110002
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hellsteeth/pseuds/hellsteeth
Summary: “Oh my god, Mulder, are we going to see The Rocky Horror Picture Show?” Her blue eyes are alight with recognition.Great. He’s frogmarched her across town to surprise her with a movie she’s already seen, like an idiot. Mulder rubs the back of his neck nervously and nods.“Oh...yeah, but if you’ve already seen it we can get tickets to something else.”Scully shakes her head. “No way! I haven’t seen this movie since college.”
Relationships: Fox Mulder/Dana Scully
Comments: 5
Kudos: 37
Collections: XF First Dates Challenge





	Special Agents, Double Feature

Mulder puts an arm around Scully, drawing her closer to him as they walk down the street. The sun set hours ago and they’re fighting chilly winds with each step. His pulse jumps with retrospective anxiety as he wonders whether he ought to have parked closer to the theater or called them a cab at the restaurant. Scully is shivering a little and Mulder feels guilty. He hadn’t even considered the fact that she’d wear a dress on their first date. In his mind, Scully is permanently adorned in a neat pantsuit and kitten heels.

When they finally step inside the old theater, Scully’s cheeks are flushed thanks to the wine she’d had during dinner and the nip in the air. Mulder is about to apologize for the tenth time when she gasps in glee.

“Oh my god, Mulder, are we going to see _The Rocky Horror Picture Show_?” Her blue eyes are alight with recognition.

Great. He’s frogmarched her across town to surprise her with a movie she’s already seen, like an _idiot_. Mulder rubs the back of his neck nervously and nods.

“Oh...yeah, but if you’ve already seen it we can get tickets to something else.”

Scully shakes her head. “No way! I haven’t seen this movie since college.” She smiles wistfully, looking around the theater foyer and taking in the people in corsets and fishnets that are starting to file in. “This is perfect.” She kisses him on the cheek and Mulder smiles at her, his anxiety ebbing. When he’d seen this showing of _The Rocky Horror Picture Show_ advertised in the paper, he had been on the fence about bringing Scully to see it, especially for their first official date. But his risk had paid off exponentially.

They step up to the marquee and he pays for two tickets. In the main lobby, they are entrenched in a sea of costumed people, shouting and chatting excitedly. The energy in the building is high and Scully looks almost giddy with excitement. It’s so loud that Mulder has to lean down and whisper in her ear for her to hear him.

“Why don’t you snag us some good seats while I grab snacks?”

She nods, taking his coat from him. Before she walks away, she looks over her shoulder. “Could you try to find a newspaper, too?” He nods, puzzled but willing to indulge her. If reading the paper while sitting in a theater will make Scully happy, he’ll buy her the best damn paper in town.

Scully walks away, a spring in her step, entering the main theater into which many of the other people are walking. He watches her red hair disappear into the crowd, resisting the urge to pump his fist in the air at his good luck.

After a brief trip out into the nippy air to buy a newspaper from a corner store, Mulder waits in the snack line, taking in the atmosphere around him. He’s a little surprised that Scully is so excited and familiar with this film. On a surface level, it doesn’t seem like something she’d enjoy. But then, he considers, she _does_ have a certain affection for horror films and general weirdness from time to time. Mrs. Spooky, indeed.

While the line shortens at a glacial pace, Mulder runs a mental quality check on the night so far. Pizza and drinks down the street, that had gone well. From the way Scully’s laughs had gotten louder and her speech had gotten less formal throughout the meal, she’d certainly been enjoying herself and the wine. It had been lovely, seeing her so relaxed and open. There’s still so much he wants to do with her, so much he wants to talk about. Hopefully, he’ll get many chances after tonight.

Mulder surreptitiously checks his breath in his hand and combs his fingers through his hair in an attempt to repair the wind’s damage. When it’s finally his turn at the concession stand, he orders two mulled wines, a large popcorn, and some M&Ms. Mulder’s a fan of salty treats, but he’s waited in enough airports with Scully to know that she has a weakness for chocolate.

He shuffles into the theater and looks around for Scully. She waves at him from her spot in the upper middle section, their coats stacked in the seat next to her. In an astounding balancing act, he makes his way up to her and replaces the coats in the seat with his body, handing her the snacks and wine. She thanks him and takes a sip, savoring the warmth and flavor of it on her tongue. Mulder settles in and places the large tub of popcorn on his lap before tossing a few pieces into his mouth.

“So, you saw this movie when you were in college?”

She nods, taking another long sip of her wine. “My dates and I used to dress up like the characters,”

“Brad and Janet?” Mulder guesses, picturing Scully in a prim little pink dress (or better, snow white cotton underthings).

She levels a careful look at him, face suddenly unreadable. “Magenta and Columbia, actually,”

Mulder nods, trying to appear unfazed by this new information. In truth, he’s fascinated by all the aspects of Scully’s life that he has yet to discover. “Which one were you?”

She smiles, relieved, and giggles at a memory. “Magenta. My hair was a lot longer back then and I used to spend an hour with a curling iron to get it just right,”

He can almost picture her, young and eager, standing on her tiptoes in front of a mirror while curling her hair meticulously.

“So does that mean you wore a little maid costume, too?” He asks, smirking and wiggling his eyebrows at her in mock-flirtation. Maybe it’s real flirtation this time, considering that they’re on a date.

She winks at him. “Yes, and if you’re good, maybe I’ll show you a picture sometime,”

Mulder pinches himself. Surely, he’s entered some wine-induced dream state.

The theater lights dim as the film begins. Rice is tossed in the air by the people surrounding them during the opening scene, a wedding, and lands in their hair and on their clothes. A few grains bounce off the bridge of Mulder’s nose and Scully laughs.

“I always forget about the rice until I take off my bra when I get home and it falls all over the floor,” She whispers to him. 

Mulder snorts. “Now that I’ve got to see,”

Scully winks. “Maybe you will,”

Unlike an audience at any other film, the people around them shout at the screen, responding to the characters with crude nicknames and mocking their lines. Mulder laughs at some of the more creative one-liners the group behind them throws out.

On screen, the male lead is being introduced by the narrator. _Brad Majors_. 

“Asshole!” The audience shouts at him. Mulder whips his head a full ninety-degrees when he hears Scully’s voice among them. She shrugs. 

“I told you I used to see this movie all the time. The lines stuck with me,”

Her memory, it seems, serves her well as she shouts out lines and jokes with the rest of the audience. It’s both jarring and endearing to Mulder, hearing Scully say such vulgar things. A few minutes later, she leans over and whispers in his ear again.

“Do you have that newspaper? We’re going to need it,”

He nods, pulling it out and trying not to make too much noise. “This seems like a funny time to catch up on current events, Scully,”

She rolls her eyes, “It’s not for reading, it’s for...well. You’ll see.” The mischievous glint in her eyes draws him in and he tilts his head, interested.

A few moments later, as the characters on screen begin walking through the rain and singing, Scully expertly unfolds the newspaper and places it over both of their heads in a makeshift umbrella to mimic Janet and Brad. Several other members of the audience do the same and pull out water guns, showering the crowd with spurts of water.

“I told you so,” Scully smirks and kisses Mulder’s cheek, taking advantage of how closely they are huddled under the newspaper. He grins, the place where her lips had touched nearly buzzing.

“That you did,”

\--

A few chaotic hours later, the credits start to roll and the theater lights come up. The audience cheers and Mulder and Scully join in, whooping and clapping excitedly. They’re both a mess, covered in rice, toast crumbs, confetti, and a few playing cards that had been tossed around at various points during the night. Mulder is abuzz with excitement, high off the energy in the room. Next to him, Scully hums along to the music playing during the credits and shakes crumbs out of her hair.

They walk back to the car in the silence of the street, holding hands. It’s late, well after midnight, and it feels like the world belongs to just the two of them. In some ways, this night feels no different from the many other nights they’ve spent together, roaming the streets of DC under the cover of darkness. But there are differences, noticeable only to Mulder and Scully. She had rested her hand on his thigh during the movie, and he had slung his arm around her shoulders. For a pair that already invades each other’s personal space on their most platonic day, they somehow grow closer and handsier tonight.

“So, it seems like you had a fun time,” Mulder says, his words crystallizing in a puff of mist. It’s much colder, but they’re too excited to be bothered by it.

Scully nods and swings their joined hands between them. “I had no idea how much I missed doing that. Thank you, Mulder,” She smiles at him as they stop next to the car. He opens the door for her and then climbs in, starting the engine and turning on the heating.

“The pleasure was all mine, Scully,” He responds and then barks out a laugh at his own wording. “And I guess the word _pleasure_ is pretty fitting tonight, huh?”

She raises a stunned eyebrow at Mulder and his stomach drops. “No- that’s not-I just meant that the movie was pretty, uh, horny-or- there was a lot of sex going on-”

Scully watches him flounder with a small smile on her face before setting a hand on his thigh and sliding it up toward his waist.

“Shut up, Mulder,” She says fondly. “I know what you mean,”

That night, perhaps inspired by the film, they both give themselves over to absolute pleasure.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Please let me know what you think!


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